"We were always victorious and killed great numbers of the enemy, for
every day a multitude of people came to join our forces." HERNÁN
CORTÉS

Conqueror of the Aztec empire, who helped to establish the economy and social
relations of colonial Mexico.

BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

Born some time around 1484 in the town of Medellín on the banks of
Spain's Guadiana River, Hernán Cortés was the son of an impoverished
minor nobleman named Martín Cortés de Monroy. As an hidalgo,
or lesser aristocrat without titled lands, Martín Cortés de Monroy
ranked well below the titled counts, dukes, marquises, and other grandes of
Spain. There was little which he, himself, could provide his son, other than
an exalted sense of family honor.

From the time of his birth until the time of his departure for the Americas
in 1504, nothing is absolutely certain concerning the life of Hernán
Cortés. Some chroniclers of that period wrote that Cortés enrolled
at the University of Salamanca, eventually receiving a bachelor of law degree.
It is far more likely, given his father's relative poverty, that he spent a
year in a notary's office in Valladolid. As a trained notary, Cortés
would have been familiar with some of the details of Spanish law since notaries
were responsible for drawing up wills and all sorts of business and matrimonial
contracts. This training in Spanish legalism made Cortés one of the
most educated of the conquistadors, and it made him a man who was able to justify
his conquest of the Aztec empire on the basis of Spanish legal precedent.

After whatever legal training he did receive, Cortés initially planned
to serve in the Italian Wars being fought by Spain in that period. For reasons
that will never be known, he changed his mind, and, in 1504, left for the recently
discovered Americas. Today historians only can speculate as to his precise
motivation, but, as with later European emigrants, the hope of a better life
beckoned.

Cortés arrived on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, where the first
permanent Spanish settlement of Santo Domingo had been founded by Christopher
Columbus's brother Bartholomew in 1496. Soon after his arrival he was made
a notary of the recently founded town of Azúa. He served there for five
or six years, until, in 1511, he accompanied Diego Velázquez in his
conquest of Cuba. He started life on Cuba as Governor Velázquez's secretary,
and in 1514 he built a house in Santiago de Cuba, where he settled with Catalina
Xuárez, whom he may have been reluctant to marry. Though some report
that he was happy with Catalina, others paint a less idyllic scene. A friend
of Catalina's named María Hernández later recounted that Cortés
physically abused Catalina, and that Catalina told her that some morning she
would be found dead. Bernal Díaz, who later soldiered with Cortés
in Mexico, wrote that even though Cortés had a worthy number of conquered
Indians who labored for him in a system of tribute payment called encomienda,
he and his wife lived well beyond their means and were in debt: "He spent
on his person, on finery for his newly married wife, and on entertaining guests
who had come to stay with him." In a society which valued ostentation
and the sharing of one's wealth with one's followers, Cortés was trying
to live as a great nobleman. Twice he served as alcalde mayor (governor) of
Santiago, and entertaining throngs of people at his table would have been a
way to cement alliances. In the long run, his expenditures proved to be a sound
investment, but they may have contributed to frictions with Catalina, who brought
no great wealth to the marriage.

Opportunity struck in 1518, when Velázquez appointed Cortés
to head the third expedition to explore the newly discovered Mexican coast.
When Velázquez drew up his instructions on October 23, Cortés
was given permission only to explore the Mexican coast and trade, but he used
all his skill as a notary to create a legal loophole which would allow him
to take any measures conforming to "the service of God and their highnesses" in
the event of an unexpected emergency. Cortés knew that he now had the
room to maneuver as he saw fit.

He left Santiago on November 18, 1518. Purchasing provisions on other Caribbean
islands, Cortés's fleet reached the Yucatán channel on February
18, 1519. He had 11 ships and over 500 soldiers of fortune and sailors, including
his chief lieutenants Diego de Ordaz, Gonzalo de Sandoval, Cristóbal
de Olid, and Pedro de Alvarado. Among the common adventurers was the future
chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo.

After arriving on the coast of the Yucatán, Cortés and these
men proceeded to Tabasco. Along the way, he had dealings with the coastal Maya
Indians, demonstrating a diplomatic ability which would serve him well vis-à-vis
the Aztec empire. He also acquired the slave Malintzin, or Malinche, as a valuable
translator. Malintzin, who was soon baptized Doña Marina, spoke Mayan
and her native Aztec language, Nahuatl. By all accounts, she quickly learned
Spanish as well. She gained a great deal of respect among the patriarchal conquistadors,
both as Cortés's avowed lover on the expedition, and as a woman who,
according to Bernal Díaz, "betrayed no weakness."

The Founding of Veracruz

Through the Indians of Tabasco and Doña Marina, Cortés learned
of the powerful Aztec tributary union of the interior. This led to his setting
sail for the region which the Spaniards would dub Villa Rica de la Veracruz
(Rich Town of the True Cross). There Cortés and his men founded a city,
making themselves its voting citizens, or vecinos. In actuality, Veracruz was
nothing but a set of foundations mapping out the intended structures which
symbolized civilization to the Spaniards: a church, a marketplace, and a pillory
and gallows. In search of improved social standing, he and his men were also
self-proclaimed missionaries of the gospel: hence the new town's name, embracing
both material and spiritual ends.

It was in the Veracruz region that Cortés first encountered actual
representatives of the Aztec empire. Gifts were exchanged, and Cortés
inquired concerning the Aztecs' chief city and its "chief speaker," or
tlatoani, Moctezuma II. In actuality the Aztec "empire" was a forced
confederacy which created new enemies with every conquest. The Aztecs believed
that the very existence of the universe was dependent on sacrificing the precious
hearts of warriors to the sun, and this led to the fighting of "flower
wars" in which the taking of captives was far more vital than the outright
slaying of enemies on the battlefield. Aztec victory in the flower wars meant
that the vanquished would pay regular tribute, including sacrificial humans,
but that they could continue to rule themselves as they otherwise chose. The
tribute served as a basis of wealth for the Aztecs' magnificent city of Tenochtitlán,
but it also served as a source of hatred among those upon whom the Aztecs preyed.
When Cortés's small force of Spaniards finally reached Tenochtitlán,
it would be bolstered by thousands of Amerindian allies who impatiently had
awaited an opportunity to topple Aztec might. Cortés's genius lay in
his ability to manipulate these circumstances with the aid of his translator
Doña Marina.

Before leaving Veracruz, Cortés acted to legitimize his cause in the
eyes of King Charles I of Spain (who was also the Holy Roman Emperor Charles
V of the Germanies). He wrote at least one letter detailing the founding of
Veracruz as an act by men loyal to the Crown, who only desired to repudiate
the self-interested Velázquez by placing themselves directly under royal
authority as voting townsmen. To demonstrate his sincerity, Cortés sent
this letter to Spain with all the gold and jewels brought as gifts by Moctezuma's
envoys, and with the traditional royal fifth of booty acquired thus far. Then
Cortés scuttled all the ships, except for the one needed to return to
Spain with Cortés's gifts and representatives. The march inland proceeded
with no possibility of retreat remaining.

On the march, Cortés and his men developed an image of themselves as
knights-errant sent by God to save the indigenous population of Mexico from
the brutalities of the Aztec empire and the "demons" who demanded
human sacrifice. Stopping at a number of Amerindian towns, the Spanish noted
fine masonry, skillfully woven cloth, irrigated and fertile fields, but, according
to Bernal Díaz, they were "greatly shocked" by the presence
of pyramid temples with "walls and altars all splashed with blood and
the victims' hearts laid out before the idols." They would use these aspects
of Mexican Indian culture to justify their own bloody massacres, starting with
the Tlaxcalan campaign.

Upon arriving at Tlaxcala, Cortés and his conquistadors were faced
with massive opposition. In a battle fought September 5, 1519, one Spaniard
died, while 60 were wounded. The conquistadors lost heart at this point, blaming
Cortés for scuttling their ships and eliminating all chance of escape.
According to Bernal Díaz, Cortés convinced his men to remain
steadfast by means of a speech, saying:

If God helps us, far more will be said in future history books about our
exploits than has ever been said about those of the past. For, I repeat, all
our labours are devoted to the service of God and our great Emperor Charles.

When 17 emissaries from the Tlaxcalan captain Xicotencatl appeared to be spies,
Cortés returned them to their lord with the hands of some and the thumbs
of others cut off. After this, for whatever reason, Xicotencatl chose to deal
with Cortés, appearing at his quarters and vehemently denouncing the
oppression of the Aztecs and their tlatoani Moctezuma. When Cortés left
Tlaxcala to continue his march to Tenochtitlán, he had 1,000 Tlaxcalan
allies with him, but this doubling of his forces did not prevent his panicking
on the way at the important religious center of Cholula. Fearing rumors of
another attack, Cortés staged a massacre of Cholulan warriors as they
gathered unprepared in a plaza. Despite his brave words, a sense of overwhelming
odds and encirclement was beginning to wreak havoc with Cortés's nerves.

Since, on the coast, Cortés had exchanged gestures of peaceful diplomacy
with Moctezuma's emissaries, on November 8, 1519, Moctezuma II received Cortés
in Tenochtitlán as the ambassador of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles
V. It also is known that the wonders of Cortés's guns and horses piqued
the tlatoani's curiosity. However, Moctezuma was not the only one to be left
in awe at the accoutrements of a strange and alien culture. In his second letter
to Charles V, Cortés described the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán
as a city full of markets, commerce, shops, and very wide main streets. He
was amazed by the agricultural abundance and variety which he saw, and he concluded
by admitting his confusion that a non-Christian and "barbarous" people
could live such a civilized existence:

I will say only that these people live almost like those in Spain, and in
as much harmony and order as there, and considering that they are barbarous
and so far from the knowledge of God and cut off from all civilized nations,
it is truly remarkable to see what they have achieved in all things.

Cortés told Moctezuma that Charles V wanted to make Catholic Christians
of the Aztecs, thereby saving the souls of his new vassals. Moctezuma listened
politely, presented gifts to these men who still appeared to be ambassadors,
and then provided them with lodging. Cortés, fearing the fact that he
was surrounded by Aztec warriors, took the tlatoani captive in his palace.
According to Cortés, Moctezuma willingly submitted to Spanish authority.
This seems unlikely, however, just as it seems unlikely that he took the Spaniards
for gods (after all, Spanish men and horses already had been slain). Both Bernal
Díaz and Cortés stated that Moctezuma was treated honorably,
but he proved a worthless hostage. The tlatoani was an elected position, and,
as Moctezuma had been captured, the leading Aztec nobles elected a new tlatoani
to rid their city of men who now clearly were seen as invaders.

At this time, Cortés also had to contend with more than 1,000 Spaniards
sent by Velázquez to take him prisoner since the Cuban governor feared
that Cortés had reached beyond the authority delegated to him. While
he was absent from Tenochtitlán in a successful attempt to convert Velázquez's
forces, his lieutenant Pedro de Alvarado ordered a massacre of unarmed Aztec
priests and warriors as they celebrated a feast in honor of their god Huitzilopochtli.
Upon returning to Tenochtitlán, Cortés found that he immediately
had to bid a hasty retreat. In the process, Moctezuma either was slain by his
own people as he pleaded for peace, or was strangled at Cortés's order
(Spanish and Aztec sources differ on this point). On the night of July 10,
1520, la noche triste (the sad night), Cortés led his men out of Tenochtitlán,
with thousands of hostile Aztec warriors flanking him on all sides. According
to Bernal Díaz, "Here Cortés showed himself the brave man
that he was," but casualties were still high on the retreat. It appears
that the Aztecs rejected their unwillingness to kill outright, learning from
Spanish practice. Of some 1,300 Spaniards and well over 2,000 Tlaxcalans, more
than 860 Spaniards and 1,000 Tlaxcalans were killed and sacrificed.

Knowing well that if he returned to Cuba a failure Velázquez would
easily imprison him, Cortés successfully rallied his forces for an assault
on Tenochtitlán by means of protracted siege. In this venture, he was
aided by an unseen ally, for while the Spaniards were still in the city, a
black man in Cortés's party had contracted smallpox, a disease quite
common to Europeans and Africans but unknown to native Americans. Without immunities,
the population of Tenochtitlán was decimated by the disease. In fact,
smallpox took the life of the immediate successor to Moctezuma's title, Cuitláhuac,
and he was replaced during the siege by the last tlatoani, Cuauhtémoc.

The Aztecs Surrender

In late April 1521, the final struggle for Tenochtitlán began. This
time Cortés was joined by thousands of Amerindians who finally saw an
opportunity to overthrow Aztec dominance. Fighting now proceeded from street
to street and house to house, destroying the once proud city and its people.
Cortés later wrote Charles V that he tried repeatedly to persuade the
Aztecs to surrender, but nothing could alter their will to resist. In his own
words, "We could not but be saddened by their determination to die." Finally,
on August 23, 1521, Cuauhtémoc and his starving people surrendered in
the ruins of their city.

Tenochtitlán was rebuilt as Mexico City, and Cortés rewarded
his followers by distributing the labor of conquered Amerindian peasants in
the system known as encomienda. The Spaniards thereby replaced Aztec dominance
with their own brand of imperialism, but Cortés did conceive of it as
an imperialism with rules and limits. To him, encomienda was a system which
required limits so that peasants were allowed time to produce food and goods
for their own upkeep. Calling Mexico "New Spain," Cortés envisioned
an ordered land where Amerindian peasants served both Spanish and Amerindian
lords, with his chief native American allies and relatives of Moctezuma, upon
their baptism, being granted encomiendas like Spaniards. New Spain was to be
a society with classes, but race did not prevent the Amerindian nobility from
being recognized as an elite. Intermarriage was encouraged early on, and Cortés
himself recognized and provided for the illegitimate son he had by Doña
Marina; since he could not marry her (his wife Catalina arrived in New Spain
three months after Tenochtitlán's fall), he provided for Marina's marriage
to his lieutenant Juan Jaramillo. Then, soon after her arrival, Catalina died
under mysterious circumstances, discoloration being found on her throat. Servants
murmured of murder and allegations were raised, but Cortés never was
prosecuted formally.

On October 15, 1522, Charles V officially appointed Cortés the governor
of New Spain, thereby legitimizing all of Cortés's maneuvers against
his immediate superior Velázquez. Two years later, in 1524, Cortés
decided to march to Honduras to quash a rebellion against his rule--one which
was initiated by Cristóbal de Olid, the very same lieutenant he had
sent to subdue Honduras. The Honduras expedition was a parody of Cortés's
previous success. Cristóbal de Olid was dead and his faction defeated
before Cortés's arrival on the coast of Hibueras. On the way there,
Cortés seemingly learned of a plot by his hostage Cuauhtémoc
to initiate an Indian revolt. This led to Cortés's execution of the
last tlatoani on the road to Honduras, though Aztec sources accuse Cortés
of having no evidence of a planned revolt and simply wishing to be rid of this
legitimate ruler of his people. In any event, after being racked by hunger
and suffering, the remnants of this futile expedition returned to Mexico City
in June 1526. There, Cortés discovered that his followers had put down
a revolt led by the old Velázquez faction among his conquistadors--a
group which had felt cheated at the distribution of the spoils of victory.
The tone of Cortés's fifth and final letter to Charles V describes a
man chastened and chastised, who no longer believed that he was capable of
moving heaven and earth by the good graces of his God. He wrote of his being
a man who feared that the emperor would dispossess him of all his newfound
wealth and glory; and of his desire to return to his native Spain, but in a
state "so that I shall not arrive . . . begging for alms."

A few days after his return to Mexico City, the royal judge Luis Ponce de
León arrived to conduct a residencia, suspending Cortés from
the office of governor during the proceedings. The Spanish residencia was both
an audit of accounts and an inquiry into the doings of royal officials. Above
all else, it was the chief means by which the crown retained its control over
men who hoped to maintain their status and wealth in Spanish society. Frustrated
by the interminable investigations, Cortés decided to seek redress before
the emperor in person, setting sail for Spain in March 1528. There he married
Doña Juana de Zúñiga, a woman of old noble lineage who
added to his standing in a way the humble Catalina Xuárez never could
have. Eventually he had three daughters and a son by Doña Juana--the
son, Don Martín, inheriting the lion's share of what his father had
to bestow. In Spain, Charles V confirmed the personal wealth Cortés
had acquired as conqueror of New Spain and bestowed upon him the title of Marqués
del Valle de Oaxaca, but he did not reappoint him as governor. When Hernán
Cortés returned to Mexico in 1530, he was able to enjoy his wealth,
which was considerable, but he saw political power placed in the hands of university-trained
bureaucrats and noblemen from old families.

Stripped of political authority, Cortés found solace in the fact that
he had acquired status, wealth, and an inheritable title. Not only did he collect
tribute in the form of gold dust, textiles, maize, poultry, and other goods,
but he also engaged in the wholesaling of tribute he collected, diversifying
his business activities so as not to suffer an irreparable loss in any one
area. In the Oaxaca and Michoacán districts he used forced labor to
pan gold, and in the Taxco area he mined silver. Cortés also raised
a large number of cattle and hogs, as well as growing grain, fruits, and vegetables
on large diversified estates called haciendas. Near Tehuantepec he had herds
of approximately 10,000 wild cattle which supplied tallow and hides for export
to Panama and Peru. By 1528, he was worth some 500,000 gold pesos, and by the
time of his death in 1547, he was still receiving some 30,000 gold pesos annually
in encomienda tribute payments.

Cortés retired to Spain in 1540. The very next year he joined a royal
expedition against Moslem Algiers, losing a great deal of his investment, but
not his life, when the fleet was destroyed by a storm. Then the old warrior
lived out his remaining years following the court of Charles V on its endless
peregrinations. He died on December 2, 1547, and his last desire was to be
interred where he had first met Moctezuma II, and where he later had tried
to make amends for his deceptions. According to his secretary Francisco López
de Gómara:

Cortés founded a hospital in Mexico [the Hospital de Jesús],
where in his will he directed that his bones be sent. . . . He ordered a school
built there, and a nunnery at Coyoacán. He endowed each of these foundations
with four thousand ducats a year (the rent of his houses in Mexico), and two
thousand more toward the support of the pupils.

A self-made grande, he performed the acts of charity and social reciprocity
expected of a Spanish marquis. In his life, Cortés had used the tension
inherent in the Aztec empire to help bring about its downfall. In his death,
he confirmed his acceptance of the social order espoused by the Spanish empire.
His life's ambition had been to be recognized and honored within his own culture.
In this, Cortés succeeded.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name variations: Due to the lack of any fixed orthography in the Europe of
his time, Cortés's first name appears as "Hernán," "Fernán," "Hernándo," and "Fernando." Born
around 1484 in the town of Medellín in Spain; died on December 2, 1547;
son of an impoverished minor nobleman named Martín Cortés de
Monroy; married: Catalina Xuárez.